Ark. utility seeks extra money for storm losses

Entergy Arkansas said Thursday it will file paperwork in March with the Public Service Commission.

Associated Press

Arkansas' largest utility says it spent up to $65 million fixing its power grid after a Christmas Day snowstorm and will ask regulators for permission to recover its losses.

Entergy Arkansas said Thursday it will file paperwork in March with the Public Service Commission. Utility executives said last month that customers will likely foot the bill.

The storm knocked out power to 194,000 of Entergy's 700,000 Arkansas customers. Thousands of customers of other utilities also lost power.

Entergy is currently billing customers for a 2009 storm that caused $129 million worth of damage. A typical customer, using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month, is paying 92 cents a month for 10 years for that storm.

The company didn't detail how it would recover costs for the Christmas Day storm.